Results round-up: Pryce and King edged out on the road

Former Commonwealth champion Bradley ‘Sugar Sweet’ Pryce (35-18, 19KO) suffered a narrow points defeat to Sam Sheedy (14-0, 3KO) on Friday in the light-middleweight division. Referee John Latham judged Sheedy to be the victor on his scorecard, courtesy of a 77-76 margin at the Doncaster Racecourse in Yorkshire. Pryce, trained by Jamie Arthur, had began brightly as he closed Sheedy down and forced him to exchange on the edges of the ring. However, Sheedy gradually increased the range and boxed on the move, demonstrating why he’s known as ‘Speedy’. The 33-year-old Welshman has now won just two of his last ten contests, with all but one fight being on the road and in the away corner. Friday’s fight was the second time in six weeks that Pryce had lost by a point, having been on the wrong end of a controversial decision against Lee Markham in September at London’s York Hall. Mountain Ash’s Nathan King (14-26, 1KO) produced a commendable performance against Wiltshire’s prospect Nick Blackwell (16-3-1, 6KO) but eventually lost on points. The Welsh road warrior accepted the fight on less than 36 hours notice and had his moments over the eight rounds, which referee Bob Williams scored 78-75 to Blackwell. King got off to a solid start and both boxer’s received cuts in the super-middleweight contest that proceeded to be a blood bath. However, Blackwell used more and more lateral movement the longer fight went on, King understandably slowed and it was Blackwell’s extra energy that saw him take the win.